What do we do when we are dead?

Answer 1

Ecclesiastes 9:5 says, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they no longer have any share in what is done under the sun."

Answer 2

1) We remain completely conscious 2) We lose our free-will; it's now too late (for whatever)

3) The rest is up to God, and depends upon what we did while we were alive

All ancient peoples believed in some form of continued life after death. This has been shown all over the world, in ancient writings, burial-practices, art, etc. No one in the ancient world was completely secular.

From Ecclesiastes ch.12, verse 7 and 14: "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, but the spirit returns to God who gave it....For God shall bring every deed into judgment."

See also the Related Link The afterlife

Note:

Ecclesiastes 9:5 seems to contradict the above, stating "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing; nor do they have any more reward..."

Here is how our sages interpreted this verse, in keeping with tradition (paraphrased from Rashi commentary) -

" 'For the living know that they will die': and perhaps they will consider the day of death and repent of their ways; but once they die, 'they know nothing, and they have no more reward' for the actions that they do from their death and onward; because (only) those who toil in this life will enjoy the next life."

Answer 3

It is comforting to believe that we continue to survive in another, conscious form, but this is not the case. Ecclesiastes 9:5: "For the living know that they shall die: but the deadknow not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten."

Answer 4

The instant we die we lose our free will - all chance for change or improvement is over forever, and we will never change (other than some scrubbing if we go to purgatory; we stand (metaphorically) before God Almighty, and are judged. Everything in our life is made clear to us, and we instantly cast ourselves into hell, or if we love God and have no mortal (serious) sin on our soul, we head for heaven. If we have died with the remains for forgiven sin (unpaid temporal punishment) or venial sin, we immediately cast ourselves into purgatory to be cleansed so that we can enter heaven - Revelation 21:27 There shall not enter into it any thing defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb.

For those who enter hell, all hope is gone forever, as well as any love we might have had for another, or even for ourselves. There will be nothing but unfulfilled rage and hate for all eternity.

For those entering purgatory, this is only a temporal way stop - purgatory is not necessarily even a place, it could be one instant of intense pain when God removes debris from our soul. We know that it involves suffering, some intense, along the lines of hell. But with one important different: in hell there is no love, and no hope. In purgatory, we are already sharing in God's own life as we know that we are saved, and we suffer gladly because we know we are being purified to receive the ultimate ecstasy of begin with God for all eternity.

For those entering heaven, all of our desires are satisfied as the only real desire that any human being can have is to be with his Creator and God, and that has been fulfilled eternally. We will still hear the prayers of those still on earth, especially those we care about and we will pray for them. Those that we cared about and are in hell, we will rejoice because God's justice is fulfilled, and we will never love anything outside of God's will, and those in hell are most definitely outside of God's will forever.

Answer 5

When we are dead, how can we do anything? Because the one who says ‘me’ is dead, the body is dead, the dead body can't do anything, don't we know that? Therefore, when we are dead, the body returns to dust, but the one who was alive, the mind and ego, the ME carries its Karma, its actions and is reborn in a new body. But before we die, if we realize we are not the body, we are not even the mind and ego, then at death, we can be liberated and be united with the God.

Answer 6

Depending on how we lived our lives we attracted to the places that reflect who we are. These places could be heaven or hell. There we also meet people similar with our own nature.